TERRY MOSHER
I find it interesting that a guy like Clay Moyle is deeply invested in boxing history and has wrote three books on great boxers – Sam Langford, Billy Miske and now Tony Zale – and is researching for a book on the great lightweight Beau Jack
Moyle has in the years since being obsessed with the sport collected 4,500 boxing books. He obviously has not read all those books, but his collection is a reflection of the passion Moyle, a former Bainbridge High School athlete, has for boxing.
Like Moyle, I am somewhat obsession with boxing. My love for the sport came from the 1940s when I listened on my Zenith upright radio to the great hall of fame broadcaster Don Dunphy give a blow-by-blow of fights involving boxers like Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Rocky Marciano. I would be in bed under my covers and the light from the zenith radio tubes formed a little private world for me. For each fight night I would count the punches thrown by each boxer as Dunphy delivered them to me so I could figure out who was ahead on points. That made it more exciting for me because if a favorite boxer was behind in points I would get tense and deeply invested in Dunphy’s blow-by-blow account, talking to myself when I felt my favorite boxer (Louis was one) needed a good round.
Those boxing nights on the radio were the best of times for this young boy. Often I would be curled up in bed with my favorite dog, my beloved Peanuts. I think Peanuts loved fight night as much as I did.
Fighters who I heard on my Zenith or saw in the 1950s once we got a television were Carmen Basilio, Jake LaMotta (who knocked out the great Frenchman Marcel Cerdan in the 10th round of their 1949 middleweight title fight; the rematch never came off when Cerdan was killed in a plane crash), Ezzard Charles, a light heavyweight who fought just about anybody, including Louis who he beat for the heavyweight title.
Gene Fullmer was a tough guy who beat Basillo and fought Sugar Ray Robinson four times, winning twice, losing once and drawing in the other, Rocky Graziano, who was about as tough as they get, Kid Gavilan, who in 143 fights was never stopped, heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson and the mean one, Sonny Liston, who died a mysterious death in a Las Vegas hotel, Emile Griffith and of course, heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano who went undefeated in 49 fights with 42 knockouts.
I secretly wanted somebody to beat Marciano, who weighed about 180 pounds and had a very short reach, but he had an unbending will and smothered boxers with much more talent, inflicting terrible punishment while taking some of his own. There likely will never be another Marciano. He is an original.
Later when we had TV I watched the Gillette Friday night fights. I came to really like watching Griffith. He was silky smooth and a very dangerous puncher.
In 1962 at Madison Square Garden, with Dunphy calling the action for ABC, I watched as welterweight champion Benny “The Kid” Paret out-boxed Griffith for 11 rounds. Then early in the 12th, Griffith cornered Paret and in a span of seconds rained 29 punches on him before the referee stepped in to stop it. But I’m ashamed to admit that as Griffith unleashed his fury, I yelled at the TV screen, “kill him, kill him, kill him.”
Griffith did just that.
An unconscious Paret died 10 days later in a New York hospital. He was just 25.
I was sort of the boxing expert for the old Bremerton Sun and got to cover many of Boone “Boom Boom” Kirkman’s heavyweight fights in Seattle.
Boom Boom wasn’t a skilled fighter. He was a little bit like Marciano. I’m not saying Boom Boom was in Marciano’s class, but he fought like him. He threw wide punches, leaving himself open for counter shots, but like Marciano just kept coming. He took some awful punishment, especially as he fought heavyweight title contenders like Ron Lyle and Ken Norton.
But Kirkman was and is a class act. He’s a good person who just happened to have power in his punches and was able to win more than he lost.
My own boxing skills were a big above average. We had a box-off in PE class when I was in the eighth grade and made it to the title match where I got beat up pretty bad by a a classmate who had a much meaner streak then I had and wasn’t afraid to express it. I wasn’t stupid enough to want a rematch.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.